Various

“ At first it seemed impossible to believe that such a terrific monster really existed. Sailors have told so many yarns for the sake of making a good story, that people are a little afraid to believe the wonderful tales of the sea, but The Great Round World took pains to find out that this eight-ton cuttlefish story was true, so we need have no doubts about it.
The cuttlefish, which supplies the bone we buy for our canaries, is a very terrible fish indeed. ”

“ The plague in India is still raging fiercely, and every one is feeling very grave about it.
Europe is so afraid that it will spread, that the greatest care is being taken to quarantine all people who have come from India.
All letters and merchandise are carefully fumigated, and they say that in Italy the authorities are so frightened that they fumigate the people, as well as their clothes and baggage.
So serious is the situation, that the Sultan of Turkey has issued an order forbidding the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca. ”

“ The strikers have been beaten because of their lack of money.
In No. 7 of The Great Round World you will find an account of the strike, and if you will also refer to No. 10, you will see that it was thought that the strikers could not hold out very much longer.
The money the strikers expected to receive from other labor unions to help them was so slow in coming that the men and their families were in want, and no man is likely to stand out for the benefit of others when his own children are suffering from cold and hunger. ”

“ Russia is unwilling that the Sultan should be forced to do what he does not wish to do.
The Russian Minister at Constantinople says that he knows for a fact, that if the powers do anything to lower the Sultan's dignity in the eyes of Europe, all the Turks will rise and make war upon the offending country.
Russia says that to carry out the reforms that Europe asks for will take money, and she thinks it would be wiser for Europe to provide Turkey with the necessary money, and then keep an eye over her, and, through the control this loan of money would give, see that the reforms are carried out. ”

“ At the bottom of the sea the creature turns its eight arms down, and walks like a huge submarine spider, thrusting its arms into the crevices of the rocks, and extracting thence the luckless crab that had thought itself secure from so bulky a foe. ”

“ In too many of the little school histories there is but a tedious, bare narrative of apparently unconnected facts, and there is a profitless rigmarole of dates and names: but when the sequence of cause and effect is not obscured, and form and life are given to the actors, and the development of events and institutions is traced, the story of the United States becomes, as it should become, the most, fascinating as it is the most important of histories to Americans ”

“ The conception of The Great Round World magazine appeals to me very strongly. It meets what has always been lacking in the field of reading for the young; current history is of the highest importance to the child, and should be clearly and honestly told. ”

“ The European Ambassadors in Russia and Persia are begging the rulers of those countries to forbid pilgrims to pass through their lands, or to embark from their ports.
You will understand what a very serious order this is, when you realize that the pilgrimage to Mecca is a part of the religion of every Moslem, and that about seventy thousand pilgrims go every year.
In all religions, there is some special ceremony or service that people must attend if they wish to be considered children of God. ”

“ Mohammedans always turn toward a certain point of the compass when they say their prayers, and it is toward the sacred black stone that they turn.
The gathering together of the pilgrims at Mecca has often brought plague, and nearly always brings disease in its train, and there is very little doubt but that the Bubonic Plague, which is raging in India, would be caught by the pilgrims, and spread by them over the whole of Asia and Europe. ”

“ The Czar of Russia is quite ill, and every one feels sorry that he should be sick now, when his advice and assistance are so badly needed to settle the worrying Turkish question, which has so troubled Europe. ”

“ The desired reforms deal entirely with the way the various provinces shall be governed.
Turkey is a very large empire, and the trouble with the present system of government is, that the Sultan does not have resident ministers for the various parts of it, as other countries do, but governs the whole himself, being guided entirely by the advice of the few people near him in his palace, who do not know the affairs of the empire any better than he does, but advise him according to their own whims, or prospects of making money out of the country. The result is great injustice to the people. ”

“ Parmele very truly remarks that the child, bewildered in a labyrinth of unfamiliar names and events, fails to grasp the main lines and soon dislikes history, simply because he has been studying, not with a thinking mind, but with one overtaxed faculty, memory, intended to be the humble handmaid of the higher faculties. ”

“ The men have gone back to their old employers and asked for work. The pity of it all is, however, that during the strike others have been taken on in their places, and the employers have now no work to give them.
After holding out since the end of October, and refusing the masters' offer to give them $1.10 a day, and let all future troubles be settled by arbitration, the strikers have had to give in without gaining a single point. ”

“ When a house is to be moved, a carpenter puts beams across in all the weak spots, the ceilings are shored up, and all is made snug inside. Then the house is raised off the foundations on beams, and made all firm underneath, and then is made to slide off its foundations on some huge rollers that are laid in the high road. ”

“ It seems most important, among other things, that we should be free to make the best terms for ourselves in the matter of the Nicaragua Canal, and that we ought to be entirely free to settle all questions with our Central and South American neighbors. ”

“ But this is as far as they have got.
"You may lead a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink." The various powers of Europe are learning that this is a very true saying.
They have decided upon the reforms that Turkey ought to make, but they are as puzzled as they can be to know how they are going to make the Sultan order these reforms.
Germany, France, Italy, Austria, England, and Russia have been discussing the matter for weeks.
They have been saying among themselves, "What on earth are we going to do if Turkey flatly refuses to make any reforms at all?" ”

“ Frame houses are always put on stone or brick foundations. If the wood were put right down on the earth, the damp would soon rot it, and the house would fall, so strong stone or brick foundations are first laid, and then the wooden house is built upon them. ”

“ Books will be classified according to subject. Teachers and students are invited to call and refer to the shelves when in search of information; every convenience and assistance will be rendered them. ”

“ Whatever the cause, the Czar is ill, and in no state to attend to anything but his own affairs. It is a sad pity just at this moment, when Europe needs him so badly.
There is a little flurry in Siam.
Siam is in Asia, just below China, and next door to Burmah.
Some weeks ago a report came from Bangkok, the capital of Siam, that some Siamese soldiers had fired upon and wounded our American Vice-Consul, Mr. Kellett. ”

“ You will receive one number of The Great Round World for each number of Current Events due you on your subscription. I make the special offer, to send you The Great Round World every week until December 31st, 1897, if you will remit the sum of $1.25 at once. ”

“ They said that if the company would put a short cable on the stretch of road around the curve, there need be no more danger. They said that a gripman could stop his car or slow up on a short cable, but that with the long cable, such as the company is now using, it is impossible for the gripman to have any control of his car while rounding the curve. ”

“ The recent discovery of the cuttlefish in Florida may lead to some extremely interesting discoveries.
Horseless Fire-Engine.
A monster steam fire-engine is being built for the city of Boston, and it is to be a horseless engine.
For some time past the Fire Department has been seeking for some engine powerful enough to throw water to the top of the very high buildings—the skyscrapers, as they are called.
An ordinary engine is of very little use for these tall buildings. ”

“ While the general reader will find it of interest, it has been prepared more particularly for the young, who are easily wearied by the prolix details which encumber so many of the histories prepared for them. ”

“ It will be found full of suggestions of practical value to teachers who are carrying the miscellaneous work of ungraded schools, and who have the unspeakable privilege of dealing with their pupils untrammelled by cast-iron methods and account-keeping examination records. ”

“ One trial subscription for one year to any public school teacher in the United States or Canada, $1.00 net; libraries having a free reading-room for boys and girls, one subscription for $1.00, any additional subscriptions, $1.50. ”